1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a steering column of vehicle including an airbag apparatus for knee protection, and more particularly, relates to a steering column including a folded-up airbag stored on an inner side of a lower region of a column cover for deployment to protect knees of a driver seated in a driver's seat.
2. Description of Related Art
A steering column including an airbag apparatus for knee protection is known from JP 2002-37007. The steering column includes a column body, a column cover covering the column body and an airbag apparatus embedded inside a lower region of the column cover. The airbag apparatus includes an airbag, an inflator and a case housing the airbag and inflator. The case is secured to the column body and is covered by the column cover at the underside.
Although not described in the above prior art, a steering column is normally provided at the vicinity of the rear end with a combination switch unit embedded inside the column cover and including a plurality of switches such as a light switch and windshield wiper switch disposed in such a manner as to project from the steering column. In an instance where the column cover has a tubular contour for covering the column body in a conventional manner, a whole column cover needs to be removed to do maintenance on the switch unit. If the steering column includes an airbag apparatus inside the column cover, the removal work of the column cover is accompanied by disconnection of the column cover from the airbag apparatus. This complicates the removal work.